As England and Brazil run out at Wembley I'll be thinking of my friend Bobby... still England's golden boy

Brazil are coming to play England at Wembley 20 years to the month since Bobby Moore died. Twenty years? Can it really be that long since the captain of England's solitary World Cup-winning team became the first of that feted XI to depart this life?

The FA celebrate their 150th birthday on Wednesday evening but it is the proximity to Moore's poignant anniversary that will remind football's mother country of England's one and only glory.

Lest we forget, it is the great man we knew as Mooro who was the golden boy of our national game. Still is.

Model professional: Moore (left) poses alongside Portugal striker Eusebio (right) with his Sports Personality of the Year award in December 1966

'Can it really be 20 years since we lost him?'

Not the concocted celebrity called Becks. Nothing could be more relevant to the memory of Moore than this visit by Brazil.

The photograph of him exchanging shirts and compliments with Pele in the Mexican sunshine of the 1970 World Cup remains one of the most iconic in the sporting archive. Pele would have been here but for a hip operation.

Had he made the journey to Wembley, he would have paused beside the statue of the English gentleman he describes as 'my friend and the greatest defender I ever played against'.

He would have read this inscription on the plinth, which it was my privilege to compose in tribute to a man who was my friend: 'Immaculate footballer. Imperial defender. Immortal hero of 1966. First Englishman to raise the World Cup aloft. Favourite son of London's East End. Finest legend of West Ham United. National Treasure. Master of Wembley. Lord of the game. Captain extraordinary. Gentleman of all time.'

Twenty years?

Tribute: A statue of Moore stands outside Wembley Stadium to pay homage to the ex-England captain

Master of Wembley: Sportsmail's Jeff Powell composed this poignant message on the plinth underneath the statue

Golden boy: Moore swaps shirts with Brazil great Pele in 1970 (left) and in his West Ham colours (right)

'The man whose No 6 shirt was to be
retired by West Ham breathed his last at 6.36am. A nation mourned. It
also awoke to the unhappy realisation that it had neglected to knight
the noblest practitioner of its most-loved game'

Perhaps because England have still not come close to emulating the summer of '66, it seems like only the day before yesterday.

In 1993, Bill Clinton was inaugurated as US president, John Major was Prime Minister, Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death at a south London bus stop, the Grand National failed to start and an IRA car bomb exploded in the City of London.

But in the chronicle of that year, only two notable events are recorded for February 24. Eric Clapton won the Grammy for Tears In Heaven. That there were, because Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore passed away aged only 51.

Condemned by the delay that followed an initial, tragic misdiagnosis of his cancer as irritable bowel syndrome, he knew it was coming.

But not until there were tell-tale signs did he let on to anyone except his devoted wife, Stephanie, and his beloved children, Roberta and Dean. When he decided to go public, less than two weeks before he died, he asked me to help craft the statement.

On top of the world: Bobby Charlton holds the Jules Rimet trophy aloft with Moore to his left

Cockney kings: Moore joins film star Michael Caine before a screening of their movie Escape To Victory in 1981

Hard luck: West Ham United captain Billy Bonds (left) and Graham Paddon console Moore after the former England captain played for the losers Fulham in the 1975 FA Cup final

That began what Al Pacino described in Scent of a Woman as a last tour of the battlefield. As the venue for our last lunch - at which he ate frugally and sipped water - he chose the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.

It was there that England banqueted after victory over West Germany in the World Cup Final of '66 and then came out to show the Jules Rimet Trophy to the thousands rejoicing in the street.

We reminisced for a while, but we knew why we were there. As we stepped out into the chill air, I ribbed him gently about the red leather coat that was out of character with his usual mode of impeccably formal dress.

Respected: Pele described his adversary Moore as 'my friend and the greatest defender I ever played against'

Out for a stroll: An eager young football fan chases England footballers Bobby Moore and Martin Peters

It was the last thing he bought for himself, and he said: 'Well, old son, if I didn't wear it today, I might never… '

As the sentence tailed off, we grasped each other's shoulders and embraced. We were standing on the flagstone beside the front steps of the hotel beneath which a time capsule is buried, waiting to be opened by some future life-form.

The story of how a working-class boy from London's East End came to take delivery from his Queen of the most prized trophy on the planet is there to explain how the human species wove so many strands of its existence into a round-ball game.

Sign of things to come: A young Bobby Moore receives the Crisp Shield after leading the Barking Schools Distrist team to success in 1951 (Photo donated to the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham's archives by Jan Harrison)

What a catch: England captain Bobby Moore gives a model a lift in a London store

Sing song: Members of the England football squad recording their World Cup song 'Back Home'

Twenty years?

On the morning after Sir Bobby Charlton unveiled the statue, his brother, Jack, went back to Wembley on his own. He stood for half an hour or more looking up at the figure of the man he partnered at the heart of England's World Cup defence.

'Just wanted to chat to Mooro again,' said Big Jack. 'Best man I've ever known.' If the statue could have joined the conversation, its first words would have been these: 'All is well.'

Bobby used his catchphrase as both a statement and a question. A couple of days after our lunch - as the best defender of all football time continued his lap of honour by returning as a radio commentator to the stadium he had made his own - he used it to pre-empt questions about his state of health.

As he left after the match, there was gridlock in the car park. To the astonishment of angry drivers, the tall, commanding figure of Bobby Moore got out of his own car and directed some to back up, others to pull forward.

At ease: Geoff Hurst, Nobby Stiles and captain Bobby Moore prior to the opening game against Uruguay in 1966

They complied meekly and the log jam was cleared. He planned a farewell visit to West Ham that weekend but was too weak to go.

Late that evening, he telephoned to say: 'A bit too tired today. Goodnight, old son.' It was our goodbye. He died in the early hours of the morning. The genius of timing that hallmarked his tackles, positioning and passing was still there at the end.

The man whose No 6 shirt was to be retired by West Ham breathed his last at 6.36am. A nation mourned. It also awoke to the unhappy realisation that it had neglected to knight the noblest practitioner of its most-loved game.

Beloved: Moore plants a kiss on his wife Tina after the 1966 World Cup victory

Digging deep: Moore is up to his wellies in mud as he helps builders clear a site for a swimming pool at an Essex country club

This was not only a majestic footballer but a symbol of decency and dignity, an heroic defender not only against the world's best forwards but also of forgotten virtues and threatened values. As if reluctant to let that spirit die, the people still pour thousands into his fund for research into bowel cancer.

Twenty years?

He will be on our minds as Brazil run out at Wembley on Wednesday evening.

Morning after: West Ham's Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst batter captain Moore with pillows in the bedroom of his hotel after England's 1966 win

Club and country: In 1971 Moore stands on the pitch at Upton Park before his record-breaking 510th league appearance for West Ham with his arm around Jimmy Ruffell, the previous holder

When I get home late after the game, I will think of all the nights when he lost his battle with chronic insomnia, got into his car and came ringing at the door bell of my old bachelor flat at around four in the morning.

We would light the fire, open the French windows and sit on the tiny balcony, beer cans in hand, watching the dawn break over London's roof-tops.

All is well? Well enough, old son. But not as well as when Mooro was ringing the bell for England, for football… and for old time's sake.

Happy couple: Moore with his wife Tina pictured in 1972

Training day: West Ham United players train in the corridors of Upton Park prior to the match at Huddersfield as their captain Bobby Moore (leather coat) looks on

Lest we forget: Moore died after a battle with bowel cancer 20 years ago this month